A/HRC/28/68/Add.4 19. The “reasonable suspicion” standard is seldom if ever examined to determine whether reasonable grounds for arrest existed, and the evidence obtained pursuant to an otherwise illegal arrest is challenged even less frequently. As a result, the police arrest to investigate, rather than investigate to arrest. 20. The situation on the ground regarding the practice of torture or ill-treatment by the police is one in which abuses, in particular ill-treatment, do occur in some individual cases during arrest or transfer to police stations (the Banjulinding police training centre is also used for detention and interrogation), but the Special Rapporteur did not find evidence that those abuses were part of a widespread pattern or systemic practice. 21. It appears that the police, in some cases, comply with the obligation under section 19, paragraph 3, of the Constitution to bring a person to court within 72 hours of detention. However, on the basis of testimonies and information he examined, the Special Rapporteur found that the National Intelligence Agency did not comply with that rule. 22. The 72-hour time frame before a person is brought before a judge is an invitation to obtain confessions or other evidence by illegal means and is not in line with international standards.6 2. National Intelligence Agency 23. The National Intelligence Agency reports directly to the President and is responsible for protecting State security, collecting intelligence and conducting covert investigations. Military decrees enacted prior to the adoption of the Constitution gave the Agency broad powers to detain individuals indefinitely without charge “in the interest of national security”. This is inconsistent with the Constitution but has not been subject to judicial challenge.7 The authorities advised the Special Rapporteur that the Agency had not assumed police functions to arrest, detain or question criminal suspects other than in “exceptional situations” and then only until the police could receive the suspect. Furthermore, the Agency denied the existence of places of detention or holding cells under its jurisdiction. 24. However, testimonies of persons who had been held either at the National Intelligence Agency headquarters or in other “unofficial places of detention” revealed an ongoing practice whereby persons were held incommunicado for many days or weeks in inhumane conditions8 before being handed over to the police and brought before a judge. One individual was reportedly held for nine weeks and, in a recent case, three perceived homosexuals were held for over six weeks. There are accounts of severe and routine torture of those charged with “aggravated homosexuality” or those considered a “high risk to State security”, and of their being held routinely in clandestine detention. 25. The Special Rapporteur found that torture was practised regularly by the National Intelligence Agency. The mistreatment inflicted was normally of a short duration, consisting mainly of physical trauma caused by punches, slapping and blows with objects such as canes or batons and burns. 6 7 8 6 The Human Rights Committee, in paragraph 33 of its General Comment No. 35 (CCPR/C/GC/35), refers to 48 hours as ordinarily sufficient to transport an individual and prepare for a judicial hearing. See “The Gambia 2013 human rights report”, United States of America Department of State, 2013, p. 8. Available from www.state.gov/documents/organization/220328.pdf. The Special Rapporteur received consistent reports of detainees being confined to insect-infested cells with no light, no mattress and no access to sanitary facilities, and denied sufficient water or food.